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But even with combustible chemistry, getting her to the altar is going to be hell.
“Did you learn anything about why she left?” Lucas is hyper-focused on this. He believes it has something to do with the bastard who ran me off the road the day I visited her. I don’t agree. It was too much for someone to coordinate in the course of a visit. I wasn’t there long enough to put something like that in motion.
“I didn’t learn a thing about it. At least nothing I believe. But I’m not sure it matters much anymore.”
“Loose ends. I hate them,” Lucas grouses.
“Anything new from the hospital?”
“He’s stable, but it’s not looking good.”
“We need to put out some feelers and take the temperature. As word starts to leak, there’s going to be some jockeying.”
“Already on it.”
“Tomas still at the hospital?”
“Yep.”
My uncle is the brains behind their entire operation. He never handed over any of the reins, because he knew his oldest son is an idiot.
“We need to keep tabs on Tomas. He thinks he’s a fucking genius, but no one else believes that. Someone will approach him and offer him what looks like a sweet deal.”
“The Russians,” Cristiano says soberly.
“That’s exactly what I’m thinking. But I don’t rule out the Camorra. Either way, we can’t let it happen.”
The Camorra are well entrenched in Porto, as are the Georgians, but they’re small contingencies that rarely cause us heartburn. The Russians, on the other hand, want a foothold along the Atlantic within easy reach of our European neighbors, and of the US. They can talk a good game, but they don’t give a damn about our Port, or what the industry means to the people who live along the Douro.
The region will implode if they get their tentacles into the valley.
30
Antonio
“Hey,” Rafael chirps, sauntering into my office. He seems more at ease than he was on the phone last night. Probably because the hospital visit is behind him.
“Rafa.” I come around the desk and embrace him. He’s my height, a man, but a part of me will always think of him as a boy.
“How did things go at the hospital?” I ask, motioning for him to take a seat in front of the desk. I sit in the chair beside him, angling it so I can see his face. Rafael has a habit of making light of anything that causes him heartache, but his eyes don’t lie.
“It pretty much sucked. Right up there with having my wisdom teeth out—if they hadn’t given me anesthesia.” He throws his head back, closing his eyes.
I don’t say anything. I sit patiently, waiting for the pain to tumble out.
“I didn’t feel a thing, Antonio.Nothing.Not even hatred anymore. He was so pathetic lying there. Just a feeble old man. I can move past the way he treated me, but I’ll never forgive him for what he did to my mother. He deserves no mercy. Not from God. Not from anyone.”
No, he doesn’t.
“Did you see your brother?” I ask when the silence feels too heavy.
“Yeah. He’s still an asshole.”
“He is. But that should never stop you from doing what you need to do. I’m proud of you for going to the hospital.”
He grabs a ball of rubber bands off my desk. “Pfft.So what’s all this about a babe in residence?”
He’s done baring his soul. Now the ball’s in my court.
